Pavakka Theeyal – Bitter Gourd Theeyal

Pavakka Theeyal or Bitter gourd Theeyal is a traditional recipe of Kerala. Tamarind curry made with different vegetables.

In Malayalam, Pavakkai/bitter gourd is to be pronounced as “pavaika” and some people call it as “Kayapaika” Which I never use to pronounce right in my childhood days! 🙂 Better to call it with the one easy to pronounce 😛 I felt it was like a tongue twister for me!

What’s Theeyal?

Theeyal is an intermediate recipe of Sambar and Tamarind curry. It is neither a sambar not a puli kootan (tamarind curry). It is for varutharacha sambar (ground masala sambar) we use coconut, coriander and fenugreek – roast and grind them but with very little of tamarind water. But in this recipe we use both sambar ingredients and tamarind water almost at equal measure

This time I have used Bitter gourd and believe me there is absolutely no bitter taste if you follow this recipe as such. Since we roast the bitter gourd and coconut paste takes over the bitter taste and it is completely amazing.

Best suited for Rice and even for Dosas it is very good combination. It is Kareli aur aloo ki sabzi which we make very often as side dish for rice.

Pavakka Theeyal video recipe:

Pavakka Theeyal pictorial description:

Heat sesame oil in a pan and roast coconut grated for a minute.

Add coriander seeds, cumin seeds, red chillies and fenugreek seeds.

Saute it until coconut is dark red. Make sure to roast in simmer so that you don’t burn the coconut.

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My name is Jinoo Jayakrishnan, and I’m the little brains (I guess i have some?) behind the blog, Jinooskitchen.com. Jinoo's Kitchen was started in 2012 just like a hobby but as days passed it became a passion and now into ...